


Left Behind

by JustaDeadDove



Category: Original Work, The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Disappearances, Loss of Parent(s), Lost in the Woods, Parental Relationships, Survivor Guilt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-08
Updated: 2020-03-08
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:47:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23070424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustaDeadDove/pseuds/JustaDeadDove
Summary: Statement of Oliver Lieberthal concerning the disappearance of his parents and the events following.
Kudos: 1





	Left Behind

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to write something for dear Oliver and The Magnus Archives' statement set up seemed the perfect way to practice. And I just really wanted to try my hand at it.

"Statement of Oliver Lieberthal, regarding the disappearance of his parents and the events following. Original statement given March fourteenth, two thousand fourteen. Audio recording by Jonathan Sims, the Archivist.

"Statement begins. 

"I hadn't planned on coming in here. My class is on a field trip to see historic sites of London. I was supposed to stay with the group but I felt the urge to come here. Like, the building just really drew me in. I mean, I've always been fascinated by what you guys do. Well, not always, since I was twelve. That's when this all started. Not everything obviously, the world didn't start when I was twelve but the -- the quiet. The unnatural stillness. Well, no, it's really natural. Probably the most natural stillness I've ever encountered. 

"I mean what's more natural than what comes after loudness and life than--

"Let me start again. 

"My name is Oliver Lieberthal, four years ago my parents disappeared.

"We'd go camping every year. It was kinda our thing. Our family thing. There was something about the openness of the outside, the towering trees, how it felt like we were the only people for kilometers. It brought us closer together, it really cemented our bond. When mom and dad would sit and tell me about the friends in the trees, nothing was more important than mom's voice or dad's hand puppets. 

"Nothing was more important than them to me. And I…. I thought I was the most important thing to them. I mean, I know they worked hard to adopted me, worked really,  _ really _ hard. And I don't think they held that against me. They really loved me, they had to have really loved me. 

"They wouldn't just…. 

"But, right, okay. Sorry. This is a really bad narrative. 

"Well, the camping trip that summer didn't feel any different from any other. We packed the tents, we packed up the car, and we went out into the middle of nowhere. And then we went further. Through the trees and over the rocks and down paths only they seemed to know. Hiking was half the fun. Dad would show me all the different mushrooms on the path, mom would name the trees. It was normal. Everything was  _ normal _ . 

"Until I woke up on the third day. It was freezing cold. Like, I live in the north, I know cold okay but this was. It was different. It seeped into my bones and woke me not shivering but with the steady certainty that something was wrong. And I was. Alone. I was all alone in that big tent. I had gone to sleep with my parents beside me and I woke up alone. They were gone, everything was gone, the world had never been so quiet.

"But I wasn't scared. Not at first. It felt wrong but on some level it felt like it all made sense? Like, like I was meant to be alone you know? Like I was always meant to be alone. 

"I stayed huddled in that tent for what must have been hours before I finally crawled out of the tear in the side of the tent. It might have been minutes though, I wasn't. Time was weird and I could only stare at that long rip in the fabric. It was a long gash, not clean like from a blade but a real nasty hole. Like someone had clawed their way out. Or in. I don't know why I left through that instead of the zipper. I guess I just wanted to go wherever my parents had gone. And I knew that they had gone out through the hole so I followed. 

"The clearing was filled with mist even though it should have been midday. It was thick and covered everything, reaching up into the lower branches to where I could barely see my hand in front of my face. And there were no sounds. No birds singing morning songs, no bugs buzzing or chirping in the bushes. There was nothing in the world but me and the trees and the aching. Like a physical fist being driven through my chest holding so tightly to my heart that it felt still. I wandered the area for, jeez, it felt like hours. Days, I would have said, if the light would have ever changed. But it never did. The same soft light of almost dawn filtered endlessly through the mist and branches and never ate away at it. 

"I wanted so desperately to find my parents. To have them come and wipe away the tears that had tracked down my cheeks until there was nothing left to cry. To hear my mother calling for me, to have dad hold me tight as he told me not to go wandering off again. 

"I smelled his cologne, once in the woods. The half caught smell of sandalwood and a whisper. His hand on my shoulder, the certainty that he was  _ there _ and I just needed to turn around and follow him back to the tent and everything would be fine. I turned around so eager to see his face, to cling to him and apologize for wandering away but --

"But there was nothing. No one. My parents were gone. 

"They never came back. 

"But the mist disappeared after that. Bled away as the noon sun rose higher and higher. As though the clocks had started ticking again. As though the world outside of the trees existed. And behind me, where I had expected to see my father standing was a path. 

"I was found by a couple of hikers. They brought me down the mountain with them after I managed to cry out what had happened. I -- I admit I fought them the entire time. Kicking and wailing. I was a kid, I wanted my parents. I had to find my parents, I couldn't-- I couldn't just leave them up there. But… well, I kind of had to. I was a kid, what could I do by myself? 

"The police never found them. No one ever has. 

"I live with my grandparents now. And I know they love me but -- 

"I just feel different now I guess. Being around people is hard, harder than it ever was before. And you would think the trees would scare me, that I'd never want to go into the woods again but… But the forest is the only place I truly feel  _ right  _ in. There's nothing, no one, but me out in those woods. I feel like I can stand there forever and no one could find me. That maybe… maybe somehow being alone will explain to me where my parents went. Why I was left behind. Why I'm being punished. 

"Because I know I'm being punished. Why else would they tease me with their memory? Everytime I wander too deep into the woods, when the rest of the world finally starts to fall away and I feel like I can just reach out and touch something that will explain  _ everything _ they call me back. 

"My parents call me back. It's like they don't want me to join them. That they don't want me to be… lonely. 

"I still think I can find them. Their ghosts anyway but… 

"But you guys don't deal with ghosts do you?"

  
  


[Creaking of wood as though an old desk is being leaned on]

"Oh, young Mr. Lieberthal. Real shame about him. He would have been a perfect candidate."

"Are you saying you aren't responsible for his disappearance soon after giving this statement?"

"No, not me unfortunately. But you've been around long enough to know we aren't the only things that go bump in the night Jon. Now, enough about untimely lost assets, I've recently found out about a few complaints about you and thought I'd come talk to you about them myself. I really think I'm starting to get a hang of this management stuff!"

"Hmph, statement ends."


End file.
